


An Unexpected Escape

by whatdoyouwantpaul



Category: Star Trek: TNG - Fandom
Genre: Android, Angst, Crying, Da forge, Data - Freeform, Data what the hell, Explosion, Fluff, Gay Robot, How did he get here, It’s gay but you have to wait a lil bit, M/M, Major character “death”, Oneshot, Riker is a dumb bitch, Romulans, This is somehow lore’s fault, gay human, guess we’ll never know, the enterprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23059264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatdoyouwantpaul/pseuds/whatdoyouwantpaul
Summary: Data’s in a bit of a sticky situation involving lots of explosives. He’s still the calmest in the room. Geordi is not.
Relationships: Data/Geordi La Forge
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	An Unexpected Escape

If there’s one place Data never thought he’d be, it was in a life or death situation. As someone who couldn’t necessarily die, the thought had never occurred to him. It was... intriguing. The thought of not existing... he sometimes shuddered at the thought. 

Though, perhaps a room rigged with high tech Romulan explosives wasn’t the best place for existential pondering. Data decided to instead focus on Geordi. 

“Okay, commander Data,” Geordi was looking frantically around the room from his view screen. “There are around five active detonators in the building and- and we can’t beam you up.”

“Understood.”

Geordi laughed. It was a sad sort of laugh, lined with nervousness. “Understood? Data in thirty minutes these will all go off and then you’ll be gone and there’s nothing we can do about it!” He paused. “All you can say to that is ‘understood’?”

“Yes.” Data answered plainly. “The concept of my mortality has not been a frequent thought in many people’s minds, nor has it been in my own. I do not know what to do in this situation. Therefore—“

“Data, stop talking.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Geordi sighed. “I can’t let you die. What sort of friend would that make me?”

“Geordi, you have said multiple times that there is nothing you can do from the ship, it does not reflect on your reputation as my friend.”

“But—“

“He’s right, Geordi,” Riker cut in. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“With all due respect, Commander, be quiet.” Geordi started tapping his finger on the keyboard. “Data is there any way that you can disarm the explosives?”

“Yes.”

“Geordi it would take hours to disarm all five. We have thirty minutes.” Riker placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Yes but the damage of two explosives is more repairable than the damage of five.” 

“Even so, the radiation would—“

“Data, can you do this?” Geordi began typing while frantically looking between the touchscreen and the viewscreen.

“Theoretically, yes.”

“Then do it.”

“Yes, commander.” Data ripped the top off of one of the bombs and began to dig through wires. 

“How long do you believe this will take you?”

“Approximately ten minutes, sir.”

“Do as many as you can.” Geordi sighed. “In the meantime, all we can do is watch.”

“Geordi, I sense nervousness in your tone.”

“Oh can you? Really? Because I expected my voice would be calm and confident while my best friend is about to die in an explosion.”

“That cannot be so, sir. As you have—“

“It was sarcasm.”

Data finished with the first bomb. “Ah, sarcasm. A use of irony, conveying the opposite emotion as one is feeling for humorous or stress relieving purposes.”

“In this, case, it’s the latter.”

“Well, it has been said that, in times of stress or anxiety, humans find distractions soothing.”

“What sort of distraction did you have in mind?”

“I’ve always been interested in how your visor allows you to perceive the world around you in such different ways. Perhaps you could explain to me some of the things you see?” He pulled a handful of wires from the second bomb. 

“Whose benefit is this for?”

“I do not believe that is relevant, as we are both in rather... taxing situations.”

Geordi laughed. “Fair. Okay, what do you want me to explain?”

“Perhaps you could explain what you see when you look at... me?”

“You? Well... I could do that.” Geordi paused. “When I look at you, I see a hundred different colors. All that electricity in you, you know. It makes things hazy sometimes, but mostly it’s soothing. Humans change body heat and whatnot, but you, you’re in a perpetual state of chilliness. No changes in color there.”

“I cannot imagine that would be pleasant.”

“It is, really!” Geordi defended. “The shapes and colors never really move. You’re like... a constant where everything else is moving faster than I can handle.”

Data was silent. He finished the second bomb. Ten minutes remaining.

“Data?” The viewscreen went dark, subspace interference. “Data??”

“I am here, Geordi,” Data spoke up. “I am now attempting to disarm two bombs at once, one with each hand.”

“‘Atta boy,” Riker smiled. “Hurry up so we can get you back onboard.”

“Yes sir.”

It seemed like the next ten minutes went by in seconds. Geordi was chewing his lip until it bled, Picard was frantically trying to bargain with the Romulans, Deanna was overwhelmed with the anxieties of the entire crew, and Riker was... well... Riker.

“Data have you finished the last bomb yet?” 

“Yes sir, with thirty se—“ he was cut off by a deafening boom. The viewscreen went to static.

“Data!” Geordi yelled. “Data! Data, are you with me?”

No answer.

“No!”

The silence was more deafening than the explosion, no one spoke, not even an ensign. Breaths hitched, it seemed like the whole world went still. 

“No...” Geordi buried his face in his hands.

Geordi didn’t know if Data could cry, or mourn, or any of that, but he knew that he could. Everything they’d ever been through, gone. Hugging himself, Geordi clenched his teeth and tried not to focus on everyone staring at him.

The silence was broken with a beep. “O’Brien to engineering,” 

Riker answered. “Yes, Chief?”

“An opening has appeared in the field, we can beam commander Data up.”

“Or what’s left of him..” Riker quipped.

“Bad time, Riker,” Deanna sighed. “It doesn’t take an empath to see that.”

“Yes, O’Brien, beam him up,” Geordi sighed.

“Yes sir.”

The silence returned. Everything froze again,

“Commander La Forge?”

“Yes, O’Brien?”

“You’d better come see this.” 

“Be right down, Chief,” Geordi sighed

“Geordi, I know how close you two were,” Deanna began. “If you ever need to—“

“Thanks, Deanna, I know. But I had better get to the transporter.”

“Of course.”

The walk seemed to take hours. Geordi tried to ignore the sympathetic, pitying looks. Word traveled much too quickly around two enterprise. Instead, he wondered how everyone else was reacting, especially the captain. Finally, finally he reached the transporter room. 

Data was standing there, one arm detached and on the ground, half of the synthetic skin on his face peeled off, and a big, awkward smile on his face.

“Data!” Geordi ran to him and squeezed him tightly. “You’re alive.”

“Of course, Geordi, my body is built to withstand much more than an average organic being. I simply curled around the bomb in order to minimize the explosion.”

Geordi laughed and shook his head. “Data... I—“

“What is it, Geordi?”

“I’m just so happy you’re alive.”

“I believe I share this feeling of joy in my prolonged existence.”

Geordi laughed louder and grabbed his face. “You have no idea how happy I am.”

“Is this somehow an insult directed toward my inability to—“

Before Data could say another word, Geordi pulled him close and kissed him.


End file.
